How Far Is Europe Swinging to the Right?

[Rogue Valley]

How Far Is Europe Swinging to the Right?

With graphs

Norbert Hofer, center, of the Austrian Freedom Party, narrowly lost the presidential election

 

[joG]

How Far Is Europe Swinging to the Right?

With graphs

Norbert Hofer, center, of the Austrian Freedom Party, narrowly lost the presidential election

Actually, it is a question, whether they have swung to the "right" very much at all. Most of the European parties mentioned ar not really very far "right" in social and economic policies, as far as I know. And those would be more defining, I would have thought, than the xenophobe emotions they tap in the population.

 

[American]

How Far Is Europe Swinging to the Right?

With graphs

Norbert Hofer, center, of the Austrian Freedom Party, narrowly lost the presidential election

From the American Right perspective, not at all.

 

[Manc Skipper]

They only appear leftwing to the American right, desperately trying to place themselves as centrist.

 

[Cyrylek]

"To the Right"? Well, depends on your definition of "the Right". From where I sit, Europe and America are both swinging toward xenophobic, big-government, anti-liberal (in the European sense) populism - from the National Front in France to Law and Justice in Poland, to Mr.Trump. None of which has anything in common with the Right as exemplified by American conservatives and libertarians, or British and Canadian Tories, or German Christian Democrats, etc.

 

[Cyrylek]

They only appear leftwing to the American right, desperately trying to place themselves as centrist.

They ARE left-wing, if you allow that xenophobia and hostility to international trade AND immigration are not specifically "right-wing" qualities. For example, they are actually quite widespread among the leftist union workers, for obvious reasons.

 

[PeteEU]

How Far Is Europe Swinging to the Right?

With graphs

Norbert Hofer, center, of the Austrian Freedom Party, narrowly lost the presidential election

The American bias is clearly showing in the article. Also the charts dont go back far enough.... should go back to the 1970s when the first far right parties started to pop up around Europe... not just the late 1990s.. European politics generally goes in 10 year cycles for most countries...

 

[katzgar]

we can sum it all up by saying history teaches us europeans generally get politics wrong. The world was best off with the USSR running the warsaw pact and the US dominating NATO. Like Eisenhower said europeans just enjoy war way too much.

 

[Fletch]

They only appear leftwing to the American right, desperately trying to place themselves as centrist.

What an incredibly uninformed thing to say. The American right makes no effort whatsoever to pass itself off as 'centrist.' In fact, the opposite is true. American conservatives have been on an ideological purity kick for some time now--don't tow the conservative line on every issue and they denounce as a RINO. In the eyes of the American right, a centrist is a sell out and no better than a liberal. And there is no real comparison between right and left here in the US and right and left in Europe. Here, Sanders is a far left, fringe candidate. While in much of Europe, his democratic socialism is fairly mainstream. So perhaps you might stick to politics in your own country rather than say foolish things about what goes on here.

 

[QuadpolarNutjob]

not far enough, euros waited too long, if nothing else watching europe fail will serve as a lesson for those of us living in nations which still have a chance to reverse the damage.

 

[Cyrylek]

Here, Sanders is a far left, fringe candidate. While in much of Europe, his democratic socialism is fairly mainstream.

Not quite so. The goals he is setting, knowing the difference in environment, may match roughly some European realities (even though he sounds quite ignorant about those realities, as soon as he goes into any detail). His basic premises and attitudes are quite far left, however. This is, after all, the guy who noisily supported the Sandinist dictatorship, and even made Puerto Cabezas a sister city of Burlington, VT (he was Mayor there in 1984)

 

[German guy]

"To the Right"? Well, depends on your definition of "the Right". From where I sit, Europe and America are both swinging toward xenophobic, big-government, anti-liberal (in the European sense) populism - from the National Front in France to Law and Justice in Poland, to Mr.Trump. None of which has anything in common with the Right as exemplified by American conservatives and libertarians, or British and Canadian Tories, or German Christian Democrats, etc.

Yes.

But in most European countries, what's called "the right" traditionally never was libertarian. Traditionalist conservatives are only libertarian when "libertarian values" and "tradition" are the same thing, as in America.

 

[gunner]

For me, if nothing else, this thread shows how muddled people have got over terms of political persuasion. As such, it is very difficult to compartmentalize politics in any form of dichotomous relationship. My belief is this stems from a poor understanding of political theory, and culture of jumping on the prevailing 'bandwagon' and fashionable term for the day!

 

[Cyrylek]

Yes.

But in most European countries, what's called "the right" traditionally never was libertarian. Traditionalist conservatives are only libertarian when "libertarian values" and "tradition" are the same thing, as in America.

Yes, there's this distinction too. In Denmark, for example, the liberal-libertarian party is called "Venstre" ("left")

 

[German guy]

Yes, there's this distinction too. In Denmark, for example, the liberal-libertarian party is called "Venstre" ("left")

Wrote a few things about German conservatism the other day, maybe you're interested:

http://www.debatepolitics.com/philosophical-discussions/250991-conservatism-and-other-political-labels.html